Religions are like cheese

The ongoing pedophile and other sex-related scandals that are plaguing the Catholic Church bring to mind an interesting metaphor, that of religions as cheese. Let me explain.

For the last 40 years, I have spent a lot of time with believers from many religions and denominations. I have lived with the monks on Mount Athos for weeks on end over more than 14 visits; I have spent time in ashrams and synagogues; I have attended week-long retreats with Tibetan rinpoches and Buddhist monks. And I have even engaged in the riskiest of all behaviours: I’ve invited Jehova’s Witnesses into my home! Many of my closest personal friends are internationally renown scholars on spirituality and world religions, who teach at prestigious universities.

Inevitably, if one raises the question of scandals, the answer is always the same: We are only human and must focus on the good in any religion and weed out the bad. It sorta makes sense….corruption is endemic in any human activity because there will always be a small minority of crazy people who screw it up for everyone.

In this view, religions are like hard cheeses, e.g. cheddar. If there is some mould growing on a part of the cheese, you can easily excise it and safely eat the remaining cheese. There does come a point however, where the mould is so extensive that cutting it out would leave very little edible cheese. It is up to each individual to determine how much mould they are willing to cut out and still eat the cheese.

Religions are also like cheeses in which the mould is a part of their flavour, e.g. Roquefort. Much of the perceived craziness is endemic to the belief system; one cannot excise the mouldy bits without ruining the whole cheese, nor would one want to. To question these beliefs from a logical, secular, and scientific perspective makes little sense because, ultimately, it’s all about the “flavour” and not about the technology of making the cheese.

But what happens when purposefully mouldy cheese like Roquefort, goes bad? When the “bad” mould intertwines with the good mould so that you can’t tell the difference. This is a very dangerous situation that can really make you sick. It requires a lot of self-awareness to be on the lookout for motivated reasoning, as well as a lack of defensiveness to know when it’s time to let go of long-held, comfortable beliefs.

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4 thoughts on “Religions are like cheese”

Thanks. It’s not a bad metaphor I think. One could even take it further in that there as many religions as cheeses, and they all start pretty much the same way regardless of how the end product smells! We can appreciate each one for its individual taste while we may nevertheless have one that best suits our palate.

“In the religion class I teach I use Swiss cheese as a metaphor. I tell them Swiss Cheese is like belief no one can truly believe with out doubt and questions. Because the nature of God is beyond our human understanding. The doubts are the holes in the cheese and that’s where faith comes in.once we come to terms with this we can better accept Gods grace. ”
Bob . K

“Yes, it was interesting. But I do have to, as you know, disagree with him. He speaks of the failings of people, and how “religion” says that it does happen. Well, it does. But the reasons for it happening aren’t mentioned, at least in this post, along with what is suppose to happen to the offender. I can only speak from an evangelical view point, not that of a monk or cleric.
Because human failings do not make my faith any less in what I believe to be truth. To say when the cheese is really bad because of the mold, it’s time to “let go of long held comfortable beliefs” is saying that the belief system is wrong, not the person causing the mold. I can’t agree. For someone who says he has spent time with all these believers from many religions, he certainly didn’t spend much time learning about them. Certainly, he has spent no time with any evangelical with a real grasp of the Bible.”
Anthony P.

Hi Steve . I sent your interesting metaphor to some friends who have strong Religious views. Two reply’s you may find pertinent to your writings.
Dario

After all, they’ve had a few thousand years to build the rational defences around their belief systems and institutions. It says as much about their personalities as it does about their beliefs, primarily the need for certainty and their discomfort with ambiguity. They need to know for sure, and they need to know now! There is no way around this other than to respect their right to their opinion and live in harmony with all people.

Of course, the problem is that many religious people are so certain in the “self-evidence” of their truth that they have no qualms about proselytizing and sticking their noses in other people’s affairs. There’s not much need to elaborate, as we are all living this experience today and have innumerable examples from the daily press.

I do make a distinction between spiritual experience (spirituality) and its institutionalization. The American philosopher, Ken Wilber, writes of institutions as the “translators” of direct spiritual experience for those who haven’t been able to achieve it. Sort of like someone writing a book about sex for eunuchs.

My comments were not so much about the belief systems themselves but about the organizations and institutions that become corrupted vehicles for the Ego. That’s the pernicious mould to which I was referring.